What is the Vocational Advancement South Texas THECB-Grant?

With more jobs requiring some postsecondary education, it is critical to align adult education with college training to get many more Texans on a path to careers in high demand or emerging occupation, while helping the state achieve its Closing the Gap goals around student participation and success.

AMBITIOUS STATE RESPONSE

With the change in governance of the Adult Education and Family Literacy program from the Texas Education Agency to the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is working with these partners to align multi-agency initiative to bolster college readiness and completion. The Coordinating Board has a number of statewide initiatives that promote effective assessments, bridge programs, and postsecondary education including:

1. The new Texas Success initiative Assessment, which is aligned to the Texas College and Career Readiness Standards

2. The Intensive College Readiness Program for Adult Education Students, Providing a bridge to college for more than 2,100 GED recipients and High School graduates.

3. The Scaling and Sustaining Success Projects, implementing best practices that increase college readiness for developmental education students.

4. Accelerate Texas Programs, integrating basic skills with career and technical pathways to help adult students acquire skills and certificates in high demand occupations

THE 4 KEY COMPONENTS OF ACCELERATE TEXAS

SUPPORTING ADULT BASIC EDUCATION INNOVATION

The THECB is investing in new college programs through its Adult Basic Education Innovation Grants that link ABE programs with occupational training. These programs prepare educationally disadvantaged unemployed, and underemployed adults for postsecondary education, credential attainment, and subsequent employment. Programs overcome basic skills and language deficiencies by aligning and contextualizing ABE, English as a Second Language, and GED preparation to particular career and technical training programs.

BUILDING COLLEGE CAPACITY FOR RESULTS

Jobs for the Future provides capacity building assistance to grantee institutions. Activities include developing a customized technical assistance plan and coaching for each grantee and organizing peer learning activities and sustained professional development efforts to address implementation issues. Building on lessons learned from leading early grantees.

DEMONSTRATING IMPACT

Accountability for outcomes is an important feature of Accelerate TEXAS. The Public Policy Research Institute is conducting an independent evaluation of the innovation grantees. The evaluation will capture the process for implementation as well as the outcomes that are achieved in credential attainment, employment, or further postsecondary education.

INFORMING POLICY

A key element in implementing effective ABE-to-college innovations is the development of supportive policies to sustain and expand these programs and the removal of policies that restrict them. The THECB is always developing policy recommendations to promote the success of lower-skilled adult students. Policy changes are being explored at institutional, college consortium, and state levels. Policy efforts build on state postsecondary policy initiatives, including Achieving the Dream and the Scaling and Sustaining Success Projects.